Who can forget Donald Rumsfeld’s pronouncement
— delivered with the unwavering confidence that characterized his
leadership — that the Iraq War might last “five days or five weeks or
five months, but it certainly isn’t going to last any longer than that”?
As it turns out, the current struggle to liberate Mosul — for the third
time, this time from a terrorist organization, the Islamic State, that
didn’t even exist when Hussein was killed — is now projected to last
longer than Rumsfeld assured us the entire war would. Just this week,
the first of 1,700 soldiers from the Army’s 82nd Airborne Division
hugged their loved ones goodbye before deploying to Iraq. The youngest
were 5 years old when the United States launched the invasion to remove
Saddam.One wonders how anyone, most notably the war’s
architects, can cling to the view that delivering Hussein to the gallows
was worth the trillions of dollars spent, not to mention the 4,500
service members killed, the more than 30,000 wounded, or the hundreds of
thousands of violent deaths across the region since his overthrow? That
doesn’t even count the millions forced to flee the violence with little
more than the clothes on their backs, or the terror threats that are
now a routine feature of American and European landscapes. None of the
American policymakers responsible for this have been held to account as
their British counterparts were in the U.K.’s damning Chilcot Report.

It's day 74 of the Mosul "slog."

The Islamic State seized Mosul in June of 2014. 74 days later, the Iraqi government finally decided to do something about it.

Something.

They're not sure what.

Some call it "liberation" but it didn't look that way in Ramadi or Falluja.

And the only significant development has been the creation of more refugees.

Coalition strike results in possible civilian casualties

SOUTHWEST ASIA- During operations to
liberate Mosul on Dec. 29, a Coalition air strike struck a van carrying
ISIL fighters observed firing a SPG9/RPG recoilless rifle before loading
the weapon in the van and driving off. The van was struck in what was
later determined to be a hospital compound parking lot resulting in
possible civilian casualties.

CJTF-OIR takes all allegations of civilian casualties seriously and this
incident will be fully investigated and the findings released in a
timely and transparent manner.

CJTF-OIR releases monthly reports covering our tracking and
investigation of allegations of civilian casualties. Coalition forces
comply with the Law of Armed Conflict, work diligently to be precise in
our airstrikes, and take all feasible precautions during the planning
and execution of airstrikes to reduce the risk of harm to civilians.

This is not the first time the US-led group has bombed a hospital. Dropping back to the December 8th snapshot:Though rushing to deny US involvement in the strike on the market, no
such effort was made when it came to the US-led strike on a hospital.Spencer Ackerman (GUARDIAN) reports:

The US military has deliberately conducted an airstrike on a hospital
in the Iraqi city of Mosul, it said on Wednesday, after saying its
Iraqi allies came under fire by Islamic State fighters from the hospital complex.

Here's CENTCOM's press release on the attack:

December 8, 2016Release #20161208-01FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:SOUTHWEST ASIA —
On Dec. 6th, Iraqi Security Forces attempted to seize the Al Salem
hospital complex from ISIL fighters in the heart of East Mosul. ISIL was
using the hospital as a base of operations and command and control
headquarters. After seizing the area, the ISF fought off several
counterattacks and six VBIEDs the following day before retrograding a
short distance, under heavy enemy fire, to strengthen their position.On
Dec. 7th, after Iraqi forces continued to receive heavy and sustained
machine gun and rocket propelled grenade fire from ISIL fighters in a
building on the hospital complex, they requested immediate support from
the Coalition. In support of the Iraqi Security Forces, Coalition
aircraft conducted a precision strike on the location to target enemy
fighters firing on Iraqi forces.The
Coalition complies with the Law of Armed Conflict and takes all
feasible precautions during the planning and execution of airstrikes to
reduce the risk of harm to non-combatants. We will continue to strike
ISIL military targets in support of our partners in order to defeat ISIL
in Iraq.

Ackerman adds:

In a poll released this week,
the International Committee of the Red Cross found that 82% of people
surveyed in 16 countries considered it wrong to attack “hospitals,
ambulances and health-care workers in order to weaken the enemy”. The
proportion of people agreeing drops to 79% when only residents of the
US, Russia, China, UK, France and Switzerland are questioned.

Of course it's wrong, it's a War Crime, legally defined as such.

The Mousl operation has been little more than a license to kill Sunni civilians.

[T]he coalition has already admitted to killing at least 173
civilians in its strikes in Iraq and Syria since the start of its
campaign against the IS group, a number independent observers believe is
greatly understated.

The London-based NGO Airwars estimates the coalition campaign has actually killed more than 2,000 civilians.

But keep on bombing, Barack Obama, Bombing Barry, it's worked out so well, right?

Barack's all consuming desire to bomb has obliterated any chance that
the US government could offer real diplomatic assistance to Iraq on the
long festering issues -- issue that remain to this day.

Earlier this week, Omar al-Saleh (AL JAZEERA) reported: Representatives from the biggest Sunni bloc in Iraq's
parliament, the National Forces Alliance, recently met Amar al-Hakim,
who heads the ruling Iraqi National Alliance, an umbrella group of Shia
parties. The meeting came after the National Forces Alliance rejected a
reconciliation plan prepared by Hakim and instead proposed its own
vision for governing a post-ISIL Iraq, aiming to remedy the
chronic political and sectarian fighting that has plagued the country
since the 2003 US-led invasion.Details of the competing plans were still being worked out, and have
not been made public. As the battle for Mosul drags on, Sunni and Shia
leaders have not ironed out a timeframe for reaching an agreement. According to Mohammed al-Karbouli, a member of the National
Forces Alliance who has been involved in the discussions, his bloc had
agreed to "write and propose a paper with a vision on how to
govern the Iraqi state, especially in crucial areas such as the
de-Baathification law [which bans members of Saddam Hussein's ruling
party from serving in government], the amnesty law and the federal
regions". Karbouli was referring to a long-standing Sunni demand for the
release of Sunnis held under the country's notorious "anti-terrorism"
law, which they believe targets them unfairly, and for an equitable
power-sharing agreement.

Speaking to Arabi 21,
the Sunni MP [Matshar al-Samarrai] said he asked the NIA to “launch initiatives that will
build hope among political factions. These initiatives should include
the return of displaced persons to their cities, restoration of land to
residents once it is taken back from Islamic State forces and release of
those innocently imprisoned, as everyone admits that there are innocent
people being held in prison.”Experts were sceptical the announcement would come to much, however.Tallha
Abdulrazaq, an Iraqi security and counterterrorism expert at the
University of Exeter, said he would not be surprised if the “preliminary
agreement follows the same path of 'one step forward and 10 steps
back'."

The US State Dept can't assist with that. Or do much of anything these days.

France was shocked and concerned to learn of the kidnapping of the journalist Afrah Shawqi on December 27 in Baghdad.

We assure the Iraqi authorities of our support for the
investigation demanded by Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi, and
express our hope that Ms. Shawqi will be released in the very near
future.

France applauds the courage of Ms. Shawqi, who has notably worked to
defend women’s rights and is renowned and appreciated in Iraq and
beyond. She has also been active in exposing atrocities committed by
armed groups.

We reiterate our commitment to the freedom of the press and freedom
of expression throughout the world. Iraqi journalists have paid a heavy
toll in the defense of that freedom, as noted in the report published
today by the Iraqi professional group: 455 journalists have been killed
since 2003, including 20 in 2016 alone.

The US State Dept?

Silent on the kidnapping.

Not that they aren't working.

They issued a statement that amounted to no more than a war of words. With? Theresa May.